Aztecs' safeties anxiously await NFL Draft

The Aztecs' bumper class of senior safeties hope to catch on with pro teams to continue their football careers

San Diego State defensive back Marcus Andrews (26) returns an interception against Buffalo. San Diego State defeated Buffalo 49-24 in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho. Saturday December 21, 2013
Kyle Green

San Diego State defensive back Marcus Andrews (26) returns an interception against Buffalo. San Diego State defeated Buffalo 49-24 in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho. Saturday December 21, 2013

Combined, safeties Marcus Andrews, Nat Berhe, Gabe Lemon, Eric Pinkins, and Rene Siluano have started every game for the Aztecs in the last two seasons. The group is close, having grown up together as one class.

But as next week’s NFL draft nears, their paths have diverged.

Four are training for the draft – Oceanside’s Siluano decided not to pursue an NFL career – but only two have any real hope of hearing their names called on draft weekend.

Nat Berhe, who played the Aztec safety position, was SDSU’s only defensive player who was invited to February’s NFL Combine, and has the rosiest draft prospects of all the former Aztec safeties.

Since Pro Day in March, Berhe has visited with the Chargers and the Colts. Even though it’s impossible to predict where he’ll end up, Berhe said he has a good feeling about Indianapolis.

“At the end of the trip, I felt like they were going to pick me,” Berhe said.

Still, that doesn’t mean they will pick him. Teams go through elaborate guises to keep opponents from guessing which prospects they’re most interested in. Berhe knows how the game works, and that’s why he’s not going to watch much of the draft.

“I don’t want to lose my mind,” Berhe said. I saw Leon (McFadden, now with the Cleveland Browns) go through it. He was stressing out. And I said, ‘I never want to be like that.’ So I’m going to hang out by my phone and go about my day.”

Pinkins, on the other hand, will be glued to his television.

“It’s my lifelong dream, just to get drafted by an NFL team,” Pinkins said. “Since I’m going into the draft this year, it’ll be nervewracking. It’ll be different this year.”

Pinkins turned a solid Pro Day workout into visits with the Chargers, Dolphins and Seahawks. At 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, Pinkins is one of the biggest safeties in the draft, and he’s hoping his physical attributes will set him apart.

Marcus Andrews just wants an NFL team to give him a chance. Andrews, who started 13 games for SDSU in 2013, went home to Los Angeles to work out with his high school coaches to get ready for Pro Day.

In hindsight, he wishes he’d joined a program at a professional training facility instead.

“I think that was what led to a poor performance in my 40 (yard dash) at Pro Day,” Andrews said. “The fastest time they had down for me from Pro Day was a 4.7 flat.”

Since Pro Day, Andrews has been training at Prolific Athletes in Carlsbad to refine his technique in the combine drills and he says he’s clocked a 4.5 40.

He’s also worked out for the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes and is willing to start his pro career in the CFL if needed.

“That’s my main goal – to show I am athletic enough to play on the next level,” Andrews said.

Lemon also would entertain a year in the CFL if it meant a continuation of his football career.

The Mission Viejo native missed seven games during his senior year with a nerve stinger in his left arm. The team doctors shut him down midway through the season, and for a while, Lemon wondered if he’d ever play football again.

Now, he says he’s fully recovered from the injury and just wants to get into an NFL camp and compete for a roster spot.

“I feel like I can play in any scheme,” Lemon said. “At (SDSU) I was a very diverse player. I was able to catch up to the concepts really well.”